I can't get over this story doing the rounds about the 15-year old girl in the Maldives who has had her sentence of 100 lashes revoked. On the surface it sounds like a positive but the underlying story is appalling.
It seems the girl had been sexually abused by her stepfather. He has been charged, as he should be, but the girl has also been charged with 'fornication' and was sentenced to 100 lashes. Excuse me! What she needs is counselling.
Now, we hear that her sentence has been revoked because it might upset the tourists. And that reason was said with a straight face!
Why are we supporting this country with our tourist dollar? This is a country where as many as 200 people, mostly women, are flogged for fornication every year. How does that work? I thought fornication would need at least the same number of men as women.
It's also a country where slavery is still legal. It can't be deleted from the statute books because the Koran allows it. So does Leviticus in the Judeo-Christian bible, but nobody accepts that as an excuse any more.
Maybe flogging a 15-year old rape victim is not as bad as the use of chemicals in Syria but both are human rights violations in my book. Instead of cruise missiles, though, we might have more success by withholding our tourist dollars. Boycott these barbarians until they join the 21st century.
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